CES 2013: Samsung Reveals Eight Core Exynos 5 Octa Mobile Processor

Samsung hopes to attract emerging manufacturers to compensate for any loss in Apple business

Samsung has unveiled a new eight-core microprocessor, the Samsung Exynos 5 Octa, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

The Korean manufacturer promises that the new processor will achieve maximum performance while saving battery power as it seeks to diversify its client base.

Arch-rival Apple is currently Samsung’s biggest customer and its chips are used in the iPhone and iPad. However this unholy union is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain due to the bitter patent lawsuits between the two companies and Apple has indicated that it is preparing to move away from Samsung components in the near future.

Samsung Exynos 5 Octa

Samsung hopes that the Exynos 5 Octa will appeal to Chinese and other emerging manufacturers, such as Meizu and Lenovo, which already use Exynos processors. Samsung is currently the largest manufacturer of ARM-based chips, which are almost ubiquitous in the smartphone and tablet market. However reduced demand from Apple could impact Samsung’s microprocessor revenues.

The Exynos 5 Octa houses eight cores, including four Cortex A-15 processors to handle intensive applications and four Cortex A7 cores to deal with lighter workloads. Samsung claims that this will improve energy efficiency by as much as 70 percent when compared with previous quad-core Exynos processors, preserving increasingly precious battery life in smartphones and tablets.

“The new Exynos 5 Octa introduces a whole new concept in processing architecture…designed for high-end smartphones and tablets,” said Samsung’s Stephen Woo. “When you want multiple applications to perform at their best, you want the best application processor currently available—the Exynos 5 Octa.”

Steve McCaskill is editor of TechWeekEurope and ChannelBiz. He joined
as a reporter in 2011 and covers all areas of IT, with a particular interest in telecommunications, mobile and networking, along with sports technology.